Chawan / Shino / Ajiki Hiro
Shino Basara Chawan by Ajiki Hiro
The next five chawan uploaded today will be the final installment of our small Ajiki Hiro exhibition. Osaka-born Ajiki (1948- ) is both extremely enigmatic and charismatic. He is the "Koie Ryoji" of tea bowls, with his chawan just bursting with the highly creative life energy of Eros, while still retaining a noble elegance that many potters can never muster. Some even consider Ajiki to be the greatest tea bowl maker in contemporary Japan, and that is quite a statement, considering that the competition consists of such legends as Raku Kichizaemon and Tsujimura Shiro. But one glance at Ajiki's chawan, and many will realize that he ranks comfortably with the aforementioned names, if not exceeding them at times. He works almost predominantly in tea wares, in particular tea bowls, and his creative power is like that of Bizen's Kakurezaki Ryuichi: in fact, the two artists are extremely good friends, and respect one another highly. Like minds attract, perhaps. Apart from Enyu (saltglazing), a glaze that Ajiki is well known for is his Shino. Likewise, this Shino Basara chawan is a graceful and highly unique piece. Basara refers to a style of decoration that is bright, colorful, and "gorgeous." It was initially a colloquial slang term used to refer to such bright decorative motifs that became popular in the end of the Kamakura Period. While using a Shino glaze, Ajiki has effectively created square patterns along the facade through an alternating underglaze effect. He has even put gold leaf for boxes as well. This basara pattern is again an Ajiki trademark/original. This chawan is highly creative, yet if one looks closely at the glazing, one can see that it was not made with the Shino glaze as an afterthought. Rather, the quality of the Shino glaze, with its natural white/pink color, which contrasts nicely with the base clay (a point to watch for in Shino) makes this a wonderful chawan indeed. This teabowl is 8.5cm tall, 12cm wide, comes with a signed box and is in perfect condition.
ADDITIONAL PHOTOS
